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She was the first African American performer to
sign a long-term contract with a major Hollywood
studio, and became famous in 1943 for her
rendition of Stormy Weather in the movie of the
same name. She later appeared in a number of MGM
musicals, most notably Cabin in the Sky, but was
never featured in a leading role due to her race
and the fact that films featuring her had to be
reedited for showing in southern states where
theatres could not show films with
African-American performers. As a result, most of
Horne's film appearances were standalone sequences
that had no bearing on the rest of the film, so
editing caused no disruption to the storyline; a
notable exception was the all-black musical Cabin
in the Sky, though even then one of her numbers
had to be cut because it was considered too
suggestive by the censors. She was originally
considered for the lead role in the 1951 version
of Show Boat but Ava Gardner was given the role
instead.

Disenchanted with Hollywood by the mid-1950s, and
increasingly focused on her nightclub career, she
only made two major appearances in MGM films
during the decade, 1950's Duchess of Idaho (which
was also Eleanor Powell's film swan song), and the
1956 musical Meet Me in Las Vegas.  She returned
to the screen three more times, playing Claire
Quintana in the 1969 film Death of a Gunfighter,
Glinda the Good Witch in The Wiz (1978), with
Diana Ross and Michael Jackson, and co-hosting the
1994 MGM retrospective That's Entertainment! III.

She appeared in Broadway musical theatre|musicals
several times and in 1958 was nominated for the
Tony Award for "Best Actress in a Musical." In
1981 she received a Special Tony Award  for her
show, Lena Horne: "The Lady and Her Music". 

In 2003, American_Broadcasting_Company|ABC
announced that pop star Janet Jackson would star
as Horne in a television biopic.  In the weeks
following Jackson's so-called
Super_Bowl_XXXVIII_Halftime_controversy|"wardrobe
malfunction" debacle during the
Super_Bowl_XXXVIII|2004 Super Bowl, however,
Variety_%28magazine%29|Variety reported that Horne
demanded Jackson be dropped from the project. 
"ABC executives resisted Horne’s demand,"
according to the Associated Press report, "but
Jackson representatives told the trade newspaper
that she left willingly after Horne and her
daughter, Gail Lumet Buckley, asked that she not
take part."

In January 2005, Blue Note Records, her label for
more than a decade, announced that "the finishing
touches have been put on a collection of rare and
unreleased recordings by the legendary Horne made
during her time on Blue Note. Remixed by her
longtime producer Rodney Jones, the recordings
sound wonderful and include versions of such
signature songs as Something To Live For, Chelsea
Bridge and Stormy Weather."  The album, originally
titled Soul but renamed Seasons of My Life, was
recorded in 1999 but remained unreleased for six
years.  The new album is scheduled for release on
May 24, 2005.

== Films ==

*The Duke is Tops (1938; Million Dollar Pictures)
*Panama Hattie (1942; MGM)*
*Thousands Cheer (1943; MGM)
*Stormy Weather (1942; 20th Century Fox)
*I Dood It (1943; MGM)
*Cabin in the Sky (1943; MGM)
*Two Girls and a Sailor (1944; MGM)
*Swing Fever (1944; MGM)
*Broadway Rhythm (1944; MGM)
*Boogie-Woogie Dream (1944; Official Films short
subject)
*Till the Clouds Roll By (1946; MGM)
*Mantan Messes Up (1946; Toddy Pictures)
*Ziegfeld Follies (1946; MGM)
*Studio Visit (1946; MGM short subject)
*Words and Music (1948; MGM)
*Duchess of Idaho (1950; MGM)
*Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956; MGM)
*Death of a Gunfighter (1969; Universal Studios)
*The Wiz (1978; Universal Studios)
*That's Entertainment! III (1994; MGM)

== Albums ==

*It's Love (1955; RCA)
*Stormy Weather (1956; RCA)
*At the Waldorf Astoria (1957; RCA)
*Jamaica Original Cast Recording (1957; RCA)
*Give the Lady What She Wants (1958; RCA)
*Porgy & Bess (1959; RCA) - with Harry Belafonte
*Songs by Burke and Van Heusen (1960; RCA)
*At the Sands (1961; RCA)
*Lena on the Blue Side (1962; RCA)
*Lovely & Alive (1963; RCA)
*Lena Goes Latin (1963; Charter)
*Sings Your Requests (1963; Charter)
*Here's Lena Now! (1964; 20th Century)
*Feelin' Good (1965; UA)
*Lena in Hollywood (1966; UA)
*Merry from Lena (1966; UA)
*Soul (1966; UA)
*Lena & Gabor (1970; Skye)
*Nature's Baby (1971; Buddah)
*Lena and Michel (1975; RCA)
*Lena: A New Album (1976; RCA)
*The Lady and Her Music (1981; Qwest) - Grammy
Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
*The Men in My Life (1988; Three Cherries)
*We'll Be Together Again (1994; Blue Note)
*An Evening with Lena Horne (1995; Blue Note) -
Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album
*Being Myself (1998; Blue Note)
*Seasons of My Life (2005; Blue Note; recorded
1999)